STRSS 29 – How to market your vacation rental for direct bookings w/ Natacha Parmantier

Video Transcript

00:00:00

Pinterest is essential because like the growth on my Pinterest was just crazy. I went from having zero people looking because they have no on Pinterest. So I had one where I was just pinging and Zen once I think I reached 10,000 people looking at my pictures from nothing from zero. And right now I’m 20,000.

00:00:26

Welcome back to short term rental success stories. I’m your host, Julian Sage. This is a show where I talk to hosts about their journeys and starting and growing the short-term rental business. My goal is that you’ll be able to walk away with practical information. That’ll help you become a better host and learn how to scale your business. Like any exceptional host that we all strive for five star reviews. So please go on over to iTunes and let us know what you enjoy. It really helps support the show if you haven’t done so already going over to our Facebook group, the host nation to connect with the community, they know this nation. So I wanted to share some really exciting news. I love the show so much, and this show has changed my life. I never would have thought that I would be doing what I am today because of the show meeting.

00:01:05

So many awesome people, meeting my friend, my business partner, my mentor, John Bell, starting this other podcast together, Vacation Rental Machine and giving a free course. That’s basically what we’re doing. We’re giving you all of the information, for course, in like chronological order that people would pay for we’re going through that for free. And when I talked to John, I was like, Hey John, this is what I want to do with the show. I want to give everybody a free course. And he was like, well, how, how are we supposed to make money off of that? I said, you know, if we provide that value, you know, people are gonna want to support. Maybe they’ll click on the links. Maybe when we do have a course that does come out, it’ll be a little bit more, maybe organized. We can provide extra stuff, extra resources, mentoring, some really cool stuff.

00:01:44

So I was all about that philosophy and John was on board with it too. So that’s why we started Vacation. Rental Machine was really to teach, you know, myself and other people, everything that you need in a more chronological order, but we also want to get more engagement in the community. So if you haven’t gone to our Facebook group, the host nation, then you definitely want to join that because we’re going to be answering live Q and A’s, we’re going to be doing some really cool stuff, more engagement in the community. So that is really exciting. And I just wanted to share some of that. The other exciting news is that our team is actually getting bigger because I want to provide so much value and I can only do so much guys. I work full time. I’m in the coast guard, full-time active duty.

00:02:20

So that does take some time and I need to also operate my business. I also have other plans, some other little stuff that we have going on in the works a little hush. I’m trying not to share too too much information cause it’s still a work in progress, but there’s so much more than I want to do with this show. So many more things. And I only have so much time in a day and I’ve been doing everything on my own for the past six months. So it’s been, it’s been a lot of work, but I am finally taken on a couple of really awesome people onto the team. We have Neil who is going to be our video and podcast editor. So if you noticed on the show, maybe some changes, the music, changing, some graphics, changing more visuals, maybe, you know, different ways to get you guys engaged in part of the community.

00:03:03

Neil’s going to be spearheading that and really taking charge of that workload that I was doing now, I, we also took on Kizziah. Kizziah is also going to be helping us out. She is going to be managing more of the social media side, helping with the show notes because there’s a lot of content that is coming onto the show that like I just posted onto the website. And I’m just like, it’s got to stay there. I can’t, I don’t have the time to be able to change all this stuff and work on all of this. So she’s going to be going back, fixing things, adding more links to shows that maybe I didn’t include everything, also improving stuff. She’s going to be in the community answering questions. If anybody’s like, Hey, you know, have you guys done an episode on this, she’ll be able to reference those episodes.

00:03:42

So we’re really building this out and trying to just give you as much content. Now, guys, I’m not really making any money off of this show right now. And I’m paying other people to come onto the show. The reason being is because I just, I believe in what we have here. I believe the community you guys, you know, we’re almost going to be, you know, I th I think that we’re going to be like the number one rated podcast for short term rentals. I definitely believe that you guys are super engaged. You guys are always asking questions and are really supportive. It’s just such a positive environment. I love, I love the community that we’re building up this family, the host nation family. So I’m just super grateful. And I want to be able to pour more into this and pour more energy and effort.

00:04:20

So if it means me having to pay other people, to be able to work on this and grow and provide even more valuable content, then that’s what I’m going to do. But I know that the payout is going to be worth it in the end because you guys are just so awesome. And I believe in this, and I know that we can do so much more, you know, it’s crazy. I want to do more podcasts and more content, but definitely I’m excited. So a lot of really cool, exciting stuff. I’m sorry that I was rambling about this, but I just get super excited about this. And I wanted to share this with you because I really feel like you, you all are a part of this journey with me from the show’s inception to where we are now and where we continue to grow. There’s just a lot of exciting stuff happening today.

00:04:59

I have the honor of speaking with that chip I’m in TIAA. That’s such as a world traveling host, who’s settled down in Valencia, Spain. She manages to short-term rentals while also caring for her one and a half year old baby. And this episode, Natasha has shares her experience as a Vacation Rental marketer and gives us her top three tips to getting your direct booking site up and running. She shares some really good information on finding your target customer and how to use Pinterest to get more bookings. What I like about this episode is that there’s a lot of practical information, things that you can start doing right away to be able to potentially increase your bookings, but also just a very easy to understand episode talking about why a blog is so important, how to use Pinterest. We get into some more tactical stuff like how to use Pinterest, to be able to drive traffic to your blog, to your website, to be able to get increased bookings. If you like my show notes for this episode, go to Short Term Sage dot com backslash STR two nine. Or if you’d like my show notes sent directly to your inbox every week, you can go to shorttermsage.com backslash show notes with all that being said onto this week’s conversation. Hey, welcome back, host nation to another episode of short term rental success stories. Today, I have the special honor of speaking with Natasha Belmonte.

00:06:13

If you wouldn’t mind, please letting the audience know a little bit more about who you are and what inspired you to get into short-term rentals.

00:06:20

Okay. So first thank you very much for having you on your show and very happy to be here with you and everyone watching. So what’s made Mr. Vacation Rental business. I did Vacation Rental at first, when I was living in Germany, I was just doing it, renting out my room. When I was, in fact, I was thinking was that’s great because it’s financing my travel. And then we, we moved. I moved here a year ago, and while I had shared who I fought, let’s do it again here, but more like scanning it more. So we are doing it as a home share where we are living here for parties that we have in the countryside, which is much more seasonal, or we are doing it as well, too busy kids covering the cost of everything we are. So that’s what made me tell us Vacation Rental also because I lo I love having people from different countries. I speak six languages, so it’s nice to be. It’s nice to be able to use those languages with people were coming to our place and when they will always have anymore. But it’s nice to have a chat over coffee. That’s nice.

00:07:48

Now you you’ve, you’ve been you’ve, you’ve traveled all over the world and you speak a bunch of different languages where you funding this while with your Vacation Rental that you, that you had listed.

00:07:59

Yes, definitely. This is definitely falling my, yeah, my lifestyle. I love turning last, last winter because my partner or my baby’s father, the father is Brazilian. And for him as Spain, Spanish houses are not really well for winter. So we are always trying to escape this winter. We escape for three months in Asia. So we were mostly in Thailand at least once a month, I’m traveling. And at the same time, I have some people who are renting the place.

00:08:52

So I think that’s, that’s pretty interesting. So like, you you’ve been, you’ve been in China, even Germany, France, you also went to Ohio in the U S but all of these places that you went to, you also had your rental that was able to supplement that income

00:09:12

When it was in Germany. Yes. Cause then when I went to Ohio and China, no, that was a moment where I was not doing vacation rentals. And now that they have been doing it each time, it’s not just funny, it’s funny more things, but it saves me to not think about, okay, what will I do? How do I pay the bead and everything? No, I just can go. And the bees are paid, or,

00:09:43

And that’s just off of two properties. If you wouldn’t mind sharing, how much are you able to make off of just two properties that is able to supplement your income?

00:09:51

And so we’ve two properties. One, as I said is very seasonal. But for instance, for the month of August, we are making 2000. You are also 2,400.

01:10:05

Now that, that that’s pretty good. And in Spain, it’s, it’s pretty, pretty equal. It’s pretty expensive. Or is that, are you able to, is it pretty cheap there?

01:10:15

Spain is very cheap. That’s like my lifestyle is not about like making a bunch of money to be able to like work, work for forever. So there is an opposite. I chose Spain because you need almost nothing to be able to live here. You, everything is cheap, everything. And you have also the opportunity to do so many things, which are free. I live 800 meters from the beach. I don’t need to pay to go to the beach. I just go and enjoy. And you have a very big parking, which I think Errol lounge all around the city. So I go there, I can do a yoga. So that’s like for some paths in the us, I guess 2000, it’s not much because you can not be here. Like in Spain. I don’t know if knowing that we have people who are unemployed and they don’t get much, they are enjoying at the terrace of the cafe every day. So not so much

01:11:28

Know. I just think that that is so cool. Just kind of listening to people’s stories that, you know, you got, you got started and now you’ve, you’ve been able to travel and you found this location that with the income that you’re able to make off of just, just offer two properties, you’re able to be financially independent and work on, you know, taking care of your baby. You’re able to, to travel, you’re able to do other things and you don’t have like your primary job, but what you do do on the side, because you have this financial independence is you are getting you’re, you’re a digital marketer for Vacation. Rental is if you wouldn’t mind kind of explaining that and how, how that kinda came to be.

01:12:07

Yeah. So I have built a website for my own businesses for years, and I love doing it. I also love being on social media. And after some time after watching a lot of like trainings online and everything and being as well, how could I help other people to do, to know better how to optimize their website, to optimize their online presence, to get more bookings. So that’s how I came up with the idea of doing my new business on the side or Airbnb. And basically I’m painting people who are already usually more people. So people were coming to me Superhosts and because online, you have a lot of coach, which are asking you to become a horse or postings is not. What I do is the people who I’m hurting everything. They know everything about hospitality. They know this path, but this thing of how can I make people get to my place? Because they know that they will have an amazing experience. They will have Mac review, but they have difficulties to make their unique case. So that’s how I came into the game. I help them. I help them with their keywords. Usually they are confused. They don’t know how to promote right now online. We have so many tips and people are telling you, you should do Instagram. You shouldn’t do this.

01:13:50

You’re confused. You don’t know where to start. And in fact, the first thing I say every time when I want to query someone, okay, what’s working for you. Why, where are you customers coming from? Where are they coming from? For instance, last time I was with Melanie and she was sending all my customers are coming from Facebook. And she was saying, yeah, I know I have to do Instagram, but I really don’t know how to do it. Okay. Now let’s focus on Facebook because they are coming from Facebook. So let’s not put some work. As I said, like my way of living my lifestyle is not to work more, but to work smarter. So if Facebook is working, let’s concentrate on Facebook.

01:14:34

You know, I, I love, I love what you’re saying. It’s, it’s so many people get overwhelmed with how much there is, you know, because not only is this hospitality, now this is hospitality. This is social media marketing. This is content creation. This is website. It’s like, oh my gosh, like, this is way too much. Like I just wanted to post my house online and then start making that money. But yeah, yeah, you can, you can do that. And you can just utilize the, the OTAs, the online travel agencies and get bookings, but what, what, you’re, what you’re doing and kind of what the movement is going towards, because we’ve seen just constantly, constantly these booking sites, just like taking down bookings. Like I just saw someone in the group, they had a camera that someone complained about and they disclosed it, but then Airbnb just removed their listing.

01:15:24

It’s like, there goes all their income. If that was their only source of traffic, then they’re not making any money. And they have to go through this long process. Maybe, maybe not. They can get their listing back. So, or the reviews. So it is a problem. And that’s why direct booking is such an important thing. So for the hosts that are listening to this, you know, don’t, don’t feel like you have to have everything figured out, like in our last interview with, with Ty and Marsing, she said, you know, don’t feel like you have to have everything figured out right away. But you know, the, the ultimate goal of short-term renting is to be able to sustain yourself off of the platform to have multiple streams so that if one leg does get cut off, that you have a way of staying alive, what Natasha, what, what would you say for people that let’s say, I just have my, my listing. It is on Airbnb right now. How do, what would you do walking me through to build a foundation? You know, because there are all these different things, Instagram, Facebook, what, what do you, what would you say building a foundation for getting more direct bookings and building different ways of being able to get these bookings?

01:16:33

So two things that I would recommend first or three things, the first thing is very easy and a lot of people are afraid of doing it, but it’s really, it just saves that you need to take, if you want to grow and have more bookings on Facebook, because we all have Facebook and we are all friends on Facebook, have your current picture and say that you have your place say about your purpose. If you don’t say it in your corner, you should not say it in your intro people while your friends might not know that you have this corporate team and they might be interested for them, they might be interested for their friends. Referrals is the easiest way to have new customers because it’s someone new. So it’s easier. So my first tip is to change your cover picture, say about your place, and you can put a review of your place, or like the best, one of the best reviews saying like, why is social?

01:17:41

So that’s the first thing, the second thing, having a website, you can do it yourself. There are a lot of tutorials online or an online course that I created to do the websites. It’s one option. Or you can ask someone to do it for you. I can do it or specialize in doing this. This is the first two things, the first thing, and it’s not well known right now. It’s Pinterest. Pinterest. Once you have the websites and maybe I can put a link, people can contact me if they want, but I did a video in my group on what are the pages you need for the website, but one of the page, which is very important because it’s really helping to bring traffic. And once you have the blog, then when you put different images in your blog post, and you link them to Pinterest, Pinterest images and weave Pinterest, you will be able to bring traffic on the term much more than Facebook, because Facebook, you will appear on the wall for like one hour maximum.

01:18:56

And then your Pinterest, no, you will be appearing again and again. And you can build this traffic with interests. So that would be the first, it’s very easy to change your, your intro and your link of your website. If you don’t have a website, yet you put the link right now on the air can be listing. And once the website is beans, you can have it. The website is the website is Pinterest, because as you said that so many people are putting into the group from one, that was my list. It was closed. You cannot depend on someone else. You have to depend on me. Of course, you will always have your Airbnb listings, which is last month, last month, I was looking for you in October. And you were saying for him, for sure, he’s using it as a marketing, as a marketing tool to be seen and what they do, they will look for the name of the Airbnb listing. So that’s really good to have a name for you. Airbnb listing is the same as your website. They booked direct. So you always be on the platform, but you will not depend on

02:20:34

No, I, I really, I really like how simple that, that first step is, is, you know, you’re you’re you said, you know, you’re changing your Facebook banner. Like you don’t, you don’t need to build a website. You don’t need to get into Instagram and to Facebook pages, the simplest thing is changing your Facebook banner. Let the people around, you know what you’re doing, because not only do the people around, you know, but they might have friends. And if they say like, oh, you know, Natasha has got a, a house in Spain. Now, you know, if, if I have a friend that reaches out to me, they’re going to Spain or someone else knows them, you know, I could recommend you. I think that’s a very simple, that’s, that’s something that’s surprisingly not shared, not talked about. So I’m really glad that you, you, you did the chair that create creating a website and then Pinterest, Pinterest. That’s pretty interesting because there are so many different ways that you could go about it. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. What, what about Pinterest is, is so appealing to you and do you feel that it’s an essential part?

02:21:33

Pinterest is essential because like, for me, it’s not too long ago that I really discovered how to use it, but like the growth on my Pinterest was just crazy. I went from having zero people looking because they have no, I had one where I was just pinging once every six months, maybe. And then once I think I reached 10,000 people looking at my pictures from nothing from zero. And right now I’m 20,000. So it’s just crazy how you can reach people easily. They are like ways. And you have ways to do it automatically with tailwind, for instance, and being in the right group, the right tribes on their wings is helping one things that you need to know Birtch. You will be always there. You will be always there or in a position to Instagram or Facebook where it will be more, much more seen all the time. If you don’t do a promotion,

02:22:42

What was that thing? You said, you said third, third winds,

02:22:45

No, 10 wins. 10 wins is a software, which is helping you like buffer places to automate your posts. So to schedule it. So I have like right now, a 500 word posts, interests, which are skaters for the next 20 days. And basically it’s posting into different groups.

02:23:12

Now, I don’t know how many people are maybe familiar because a lot of people that may be getting into their space, aren’t familiar with social media marketing. So if you wouldn’t mind kind of explaining like what Pinterest is and how does Pinterest maybe relate to getting more direct bookings?

02:23:25

It was the same, as I said before, Pinterest is the same as Google. If you do research on Google, you will have links. If you do research on Pinterest, you will have pictures which are linking to a place. And basically if you have a Vacation Rental, you need to, I did also another video on this. You need to look for the right words on Pinterest, but basically it’s always the same. So it was the top, top beach near your place or restaurants. And then for your website on your blog, you will have one post about this, the top 15 restaurants to see, for instance, in Washington, as a, as you said, you were in Washington, and then you will appear when we would appear there. People are going to go to Washington. We go on the blog post, and then they will see, you can do a popup or whatever is that you have this amazing place, which is great for you at the same time. When the next time I’m going to Washington and am going to try. So as a restaurant, if they are looking for a restaurant in Washington, because they are going to visit, and then we save because what’s great in Pinterest is that you can save the pins. So you will always have them in your bowl. And also once it’s saved then to people who are following, you can also see this. And that’s how you grow. Like really Pinterest is like personal or at the beginning, you can start small, but the more you there. So

02:25:08

Now I think that that is really cool. So you have the website so that you can, you know, having the website is important because that’s where you’re going to be getting the direct bookings. But another important part of that is the blog. And the blog is what you’re saying, links to your Pinterest. So you’re, you’re pulling people from Pinterest based off of these posts, and then it’s sending it to the blog. And then from the blog, people can see like, oh, you’re in Spain or you’re in Washington DC. And they can stay here, which is next to this restaurant is what you’re saying. That’s pretty interesting though, because with Pinterest, like I don’t, I don’t typically think of looking up food. Like if I’m thinking like I’m going to search food, I maybe look at like, like, like maybe a third party app, like Yelp, or I’ll just Google it. How, how does that have a relation to Pinterest?

02:25:58

Well, next time you look, you will probably see that when you put on Google, they’re not of the us for good images. I would say a lot of the links are from Pinterest. So you will also go to Pinterest, but you have to know, it really depends on the audience. I don’t remember exactly the percentage, but with numbers, but most of the people who are on Pinterest are women. So that’s also why you’re using it daily also issue, which I recommend if you are, which is like around the theme or niche, for instance, as I recommend like any, like I know another person she’s doing it for skydivers, then sky diver, and you’re looking for like the best thing or the best places for skydiving, then you will probably have a ward. So it’s like a four and Pinterest where you will, you will have all spaces where it can do skydiving and that’s how you build.

02:27:15

So, okay. So if you wouldn’t mind giving an example like of, of the skydiving. So how, how does a person’s website? So after they’ve changed their Facebook profile banner, they’re there, they’ve created this website, just a basic website. They have a blog. How does a, a home relates to skydiving relates to Pinterest, which relates to direct bookings.

02:27:38

So this homes that I’m talking about, in fact, it’s one of the members of the group. I saw that she has a she’s on this nation previous. She will be soon an interview with me. She is looking very, very close to a skydiving center and she noticed that most, a lot of people are coming to a place in the boat of skydiving. So now she decided to focus on this to send out, to attract more people who lifestyle skydiving. So that’s why I say like, focus on what’s working for instance here. Okay. I am close to the beach, I’m close to the university. So I’m also putting it in my listing, using the beach. And that’s how you will attract people. So if we come back to the skydiving’s, that’s how she puts the skydiving. Enter in your website. URL is the address of the website. And if she has a longer, I don’t know, I didn’t check everything, but if she has a blog, then I would recommend to do like the top skydiving place in the way of things like this. And then she appears, does make more sense though,

02:28:46

You know, like with a blog, if you just put a blog out there, it’s, it’s difficult for people just to like click on that because there’s a lot of things that go into getting your blog ranked in Google. You know, if someone mentions blog and they have a high ranking, they’re going to go on top of you. Or if someone has advertisements on Google, it’ll go on top of you. But because if you’re using Pinterest, you’re saying, if you use Pinterest, your posts might automatically get bumped up towards the top because it has a lot more, has a lot more authority authority on the search engines. So your blog, which might not get a lot of views, because if you post, like what, how do you, how do you get your Pinterest posts? Like more recognized that I guess is the thing. Because if a bunch of people are posting it, you have to stand out as well.

02:29:35

Yeah. You have to set out every, all the time. And one week, like what I say one way to stand out is really to, to target like one, one kind of people, because of course, like there are a lot of logs and they have logs about everything, but there might not be so many blogs about skydiving so that the more targeted you are in the keywords. So that’s why as well, you have to put in your Pinterest account name, like keywords that you want. You have to create those keywords that you want. You have to work on it. Of course, if you only one Airbnb out of 1000, but if you want Airbnb for skydivers, not so many, then it’s easier to send out. That’s a,

03:30:40

I really, I really liked that. The Pinterest and I didn’t, I didn’t really think of it too, too much before you kind of brought it up, but this the snowball effects, how, how do you get your Pinterest posts to, to really kind of start snowballing though, because you can’t just post it, you know, just, you know, 10 best skydiving places or whatever, and then just expect a bunch of people to start booking direct. So how do you, how do you even get your Pinterest posts recognized

03:31:05

How you get them recognized when you have to be member or you have the board and then you have the group. So you have to be men, which could be very different, but let’s say it’s like the Facebook groups and you have to be members of the right Facebook group, for instance, a vegan Airbnb, then the members of groups on Facebook for vegans, the same for skydiving, the same for everything. So you asked to be members of the right books, but there are books where people will repeat and repeat and repeat in your place. So you have to check what group is working. And that’s why I use the software because it’s automatic. I don’t have to pin every group. No it’s going there. And also the tribe that I was talking a lot, you have at the beginning, it was difficult for me. This is working.

03:32:02

The tribe is the same. It’s a feature there where people are helping each other to repeat. So they, for instance, in those groups who have some person who have maybe 20,000 followers on Pinterest, if you get that person who is in that tribe, ripping your thing, then it will be seen by 20,000 people. Potentially, of course not everyone is looking at this course. Exactly. But that’s those tweaks like things are working on the keywords, the ride group goals have your own boards and be in tribes. Tribes is like exhibits. For me, it’s really the best because the will, and the more people are like, it’s the same, you know, it’s more like people like your things and the more it can be shared and the tribes are doing it for you. You know, I click on the, on my tailwind. I have 10 more repins so they do it for you.

03:33:13

It’s really, that’s why Pinterest Pinterest is winning difficult. You don’t spend time. What I do. I write a blog post. Then I create for the blog posts. I repeat them. And then I will say, okay, when you’ve got a thing is when you’re from, or your way to your website, you repeat them to the best, best balls. That is the most specific ones. So that Pinterest knows, okay, this picture is processed keywords, and it should appear higher for this keyword. Then you can put in Googles or boards that are not that specific, but the first one has to be very specific so that he knows that this, and then after that, I scan, once I did it myself, then I say, you you’re creating some groups and you say, okay, I want to send it to all the group boards, which are specific to Airbnb. People who like Airbnb. Okay. And then it will be scalers for the next 10 days, or they don’t do anything for the next 10 days. Then I have another post. I do the same. So that’s the only thing.

03:34:31

And they have have you and other people that have been doing this, have you, have you been able to see like a return, like people have been more direct booking because of these more targeted keyword pins?

03:34:43

Definitely. Definitely. Of course right now. But the thing is everyone’s Pinterest is automatic. As I said, almost nothing to do so most still coming from me from Facebook because being in the right groups on Facebook is helping definition. But Pinterest is more automatic being on the Facebook groups. Take more time. You have to reply. You have to check. So that’s two things. But after a while, Pinterest is helping you to stay on top without doing like Google. That’s why you need to work on some things at the beginning. And then afterwards it’s better, but it’s long term. It’s not, Facebook is much more easy because you post something which is very targeting. And once a person he’s expecting, then they would go and it will help, but you will need to be there to do it on Pinterest and Google after a month or for some months, then it’s done by itself.

03:35:50

I like that about Pinterest is what you’re saying is that you can very automated and you know, like what you’re saying with Facebook, it’s only going to last, as long as you know, it’s on someone’s newsfeed. Once it leaves their newsfeed, they don’t, they don’t see that anymore. But with Pinterest, if enough people, the longer it’s there, it’s like the more like it’s stewing and more and more pins and more shares and more relates. And you can have a constant stream of direct bookings coming potentially from a pin that, that, you know, the longer it sits there, the more, the more it grows.

03:36:24

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I’m talking about tailwinds because there are a lot of boards and everything they read is official. It’s approved by Pinterest. So it’s not something that is enabled. It’s something that’s approved and anyone can use it is also having problems.

03:36:43

So th this is kind of what you would say is like the fundamental for someone that is just like brand new, just starting out, they just got their listing on Airbnb, but they’re, they don’t, they don’t want to just put all their eggs in one basket, you recommend, you know, changing your Facebook banner, start, start simple, start easy, let other people know then creating a website that allows you to direct book and then creating a blog post. And then the strategy that, that you recommend with a blog post is, is finding things that are, that are relatable to you in the common area. So if, if I’m in DC, maybe I’ll mention like jazz nights, or I mentioned like top restaurants near me, or, you know, places near my, my unit. And then lastly you says is what put those blog posts that you do create then pinning it on Pinterest and it kind of shares and, and, and grows that way.

03:37:36

Yeah, exactly. You’re not pinning your opinions of possible your opinions or pictures that you will create. It’s very easy. Like, I don’t know. I should know Canada, but Canada is kind of the new Photoshop, but much easier. You are like the first time you do it, you will have to do it. And then afterwards you keep the same. You just change what you’re writing. You just change the picture. And then you put, I would recommend like three sweet pictures, depending on the length of your post, but sweet pictures. You do it

03:38:16

Now. Can, can you just like with Pinterest, you know, as a host, you know, people that are listening to this show, you, you know, that you have to have pictures that stand out, you have to have eye catching things. You have to have a description that is, is good. And is, is, is catching. You have to stand out. You have to be original. It does. Is that also going to have to relate in your blog posts and your Pinterest posts as well?

03:38:44

What do you mean exactly? Can you explain,

03:38:47

Are you, are you going to need like, just Lee’s eye catching F blog posts and really well-worded and described, and do you also need, like, these really eye-catching poppy Pinterest photos that are gonna attract people as well?

03:39:02

Yes, of course you are. You need to have those eye catching pictures. You need to have those, those titles, which are helping people to, to think, oh yeah, I want to click on this. If you don’t know, there is something which is called the king Sumo friend helps you to write headlines. And afterwards, also one change that I would recommend is to think about ranking and how everything eye catching, but especially as a post and what you want. And you want to attract people because of you as they come to your page. Of course it depends which kind of place you have. They want to come to your place because of you, because they want to know you right away. You are not right on the Google search to find you, you have to write your house, you have to have the right keywords into titles, into certain headings, but then after we talk like you are, because it would be easier for you easier also for the person who is staying on the website.

04:40:23

Well, great. Thank you so much, Natasha, for taking the time and educating the audience on Pinterest and starting and really, really great tips. If you are just starting off to get your property on different channels so that you are not just relying on a single OTA, I really appreciate that. Is there any way that anybody can reach in and touch it if they have any questions about Pinterest or marketing in direct booking and expanding that?

04:40:47

Yeah. Yes. For sure. I guess the best would be to just put my link in the description of your YouTube channel. Because as you know, it’s a bit difficult to put my name, but my website is my name. So it’s not a shopper.com. They can find me here without any permanent.

04:41:06

Great. Well, thank you so much. I’ll include everything in the description box and until next time, host nation, keep on hosting Hopi hosts benefit from the show. If you found value, please go on over to iTunes, leave us a review and let us know what you enjoy about the show. If you’d like to talk to the hosts that have been featured in these episodes, as well as the community, going over to our Facebook group, the host nation.